Rhinosinusitis is one of the most diagnosed diseases in the U.S., responsible for nearly $5.8 billion annually in health care costs. Chronic, and recurrent acute sinusitis, can be a lifelong condition and difficult to treat. The illness can also set the stage for bronchitis and pneumonia, especially in the elderly, since the microorganisms are often the same. Because disease and inflammation in the greater oral cavity are interrelated, the general condition is sometimes known by researchers and specialists in the field as “chronic rhinosinusitis.”
Sinusitis refers to an inflammation of the sinuses or airspaces within the bones of the face. Many times this flare-up is acute when caused by infection within these spaces, but continuous irritation may lead to swelling and obstruction, providing a conducive environment for microorganism growth. The ensuing infection in the nose is almost always bacterial. Typically the process starts with a cold virus (there are over 200 kinds) in the nasal cavities, causing brief and mild inflammation, often referred to as rhinitis. A cold or flu virus, however, can also create a more onerous condition by producing greater inflammation and congestion in nasal passages. As the duration and severity of this initial infection grows, the likelihood of related and chronic conditions increase, affecting the health anywhere in the entire respiratory tract. The resulting illness may be bacterial, viral or fungal (10), and also due to allergy or immune response. Roughly 90% of adults have had sinusitis at some point in their lives (2), and chronic sinusitis and rhinitis is more common than any other chronic condition (1).
According to the Journal of Allergy and Immunology, 2000, “Unfortunately, sinusitis is often very frustrating and difficult to treat, and medical failures often become surgical patients.” “There were approximately 200,000 sinus surgeries in the United States in 1994.”—“No hypothesis explains the complex interplay of infectious and inflammatory stimuli that contribute to the disease. There is also a great need for improved therapies to combat this frustrating chronic illness.” In a more recent approach, according to the book Sinus Relief Now, 2006, by Josephson, “We now believe that the inflammatory process affecting, the nose, the sinuses, and the lungs is one and the same process.”—“The membranes that line the nose, sinuses, and lungs, are so sensitive, that inflammation in any of these areas can ultimately affect the others.” The entire respiratory tract is lined with the same skin (7), and an infection or inflammation that occurs in the nose can travel to the lungs (23).
Although the onset and enduring nature of chronic sinusitis has many facets, I have discovered an easy to administer procedure, and the use of a narrow concentration range of chlorine dioxide that will halt the onset of the illness or its aftermath. This invention will also reduce or completely relieve the battery of familiar cold symptoms, and in most cases eliminate the cause of the problem whether infectious or immune triggered.
In 1978 the inventor of the present application received the first patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,747) for applying chlorine dioxide disinfectant to the body for treating infection and disease. The patent since that time has spawned approximately 200 patents by others, incorporating ClO2 for topical use. Since 1978, a number of products for use on human and animal diseases utilizing chlorine dioxide have been created.
A number of compounds such as chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide, Triclosan, cetylperdinium chloride, iodophors, quaternary ammonium compounds and household bleach have been used as disinfectants. Because of the great need to disinfect the mouth, however, these same disinfectants are often used in oral preparations for odor or bacteria removal, and after dental procedures. They taste bad and have other limitations, and the most effective, chlorhexidine, causes significant staining of the teeth as well as suppressing taste receptors. Moreover, chlorhexidine, a relatively effective antiseptic cannot be used on the more serious gum disease, periodontitis, because of its burning effect on tissue, especially open sores. Hydrogen peroxide, one of the most common antiseptics, is considered highly irritating on mucus membranes. Many topical disinfectants are not very effective on pseudomonas, for example, or many other gram negative bacteria. An example of these include iodine compounds like Betadyne, often used on the skin. Common topical disinfectants like Triclosan and quaternary ammonium compounds are slow acting and are poor inactivators of most viruses and spores.
A broad spectrum antimicrobial property is vital for treating chronic sinusitis which harbors an array of organisms, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus, and anaerobic bacteria, Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Porphyromonas, and Peptostreptococcus, and finally, fungi, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporiuim, and Candida. The Mayo Clinic, found fungi in 96% of people with chronic sinusitis. Elsewhere it was shown that 90% of people that had nasal congestion for more than a year had positive cultures of Chlamydia pneumoniae (12). Many microbes become resistant to antibiotics, or are not responsive to them at all. It is of interest as well, that most potential virucides are cytotoxic, even at very small concentrations (Chemical Inactivation, by Arana-Anzaldo).
With all of various ClO2 treatments discovered over the last 25 year period by the present inventor and others, the most surprising is the present discovery that ClO2 is useful for treating and curing colds, sore throats, sinusitis and most importantly chronic sinusitis. All of these conditions are related. Over 85% of people with colds, for example, have inflamed sinuses, sometimes called rhinitis. The various conditions are also caused by the same microorganisms and display many of the same symptoms. Sinusitis is usually triggered by a cold or sore throat, but sinusitis in turn can develop into bronchitis, or throat irritation. According to a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Bulletin, “Scientific studies have shown a close relationship between having asthma and sinusitis. For example, the vast majority of people with moderate to severe asthma also have chronic sinusitis.”